A body was found in the water on Saturday north of Monterey Bay, California, in the same area where a swimmer went missing nearly a week ago in a suspected shark attack, according to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office.
The body was pulled from the ocean just south of Davenport Beach around 2pm Saturday, according to KRON.
“Due to the proximity of the recent victim of the shark attack in Monterey County, our agency is working closely with the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office and the Pacific Grove Police Department regarding the recovery,” the sheriff’s office said. “The investigation is ongoing.”
California State Parks confirmed that the body recovered from the water was a woman, but did not confirm if it matched the description of a woman who went missing in the area almost a week earlier.
On Sunday, Erica Fox, a 55-year-old triathlete, was reported missing. She was last seen at Lovers Point in Pacific Grove near the south end of the bay. There are about 30 miles between Lovers Point and Davenport, where the body was recovered on Saturday.
Authorities in Santa Cruz have found a body in the water near Monterey Bay a week after a swimmer went missing in a suspected shark attack off a nearby beach (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
Fox, in a 2022 interview with The Independent she said she felt comfortable in the water, but also understood its dangers.
Fox said at the time that the reported shark encounters in Pacific Grove didn’t stop her fellow swimmers from spending time in the water. She said that she had never met a shark herself, but she understood and respected that the ocean was foreign territory for humans.
“As soon as you dive into the water, you are immediately in a foreign land. We are humble guests of the ocean’s ecology,” she said The Independent.
She added that she felt “more vulnerable riding a bike than being in the water.”
Two Monterey beaches were closed Sunday “as a precautionary measure due to an unconfirmed shark incident at Lovers Point in Pacific Grove,” according to a City of Monterey social media post.
A pair of witnesses reportedly told authorities they believed Fox may have encountered a shark the day she disappeared, according to the San Luis Obispo Tribune.
It has not been confirmed that Fox was involved in a shark attack, nor has it been confirmed that the body found in the water is connected to a shark attack.
Chris Lowe, director of the Shark Lab at California State University, Long Beach, told the Santa Cruz Sentinel that the coast near Lovers Point attracts sea lions and seals, which are primary prey animals for white sharks.
Sharks migrate from the deeper ocean to the coast in October to feed, typically remaining in the area until January.
“They’re going to hunt and they’re going to patrol outside these areas where these animals congregate,” Lowe told the outlet.
Despite their presence, shark bites are still extremely rare events.
Since 1950, there have been 16 people killed by sharks in California, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. All cases were confirmed to be white sharks with the exception of one incident in which the species of the animal was not confirmed.
In the Monterey area, there have been 13 shark bite incidents since 1950. Most of the victims were divers or surfers. Only two swimmers have been attacked by sharks since 1950.
Rescue workers launched a search of 84 square nautical miles of the area where Fox disappeared, but that search was suspended after 15 hours, according to a joint statement from the Monterey Fire Department, the Pacific Grove Police Department, the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, and the United States Coast Guard.